Guest blog: Caroline Phillips on Borgo Egnazia

Last month, Caroline Phillips, globalista and renowned travel journalist traveled with her husband and two daughters, Ella and Anya, to Borgo Egnazia, one of our favorite new family-friendly resorts in the Med.

When did I turn from being a simple and occasional Scott Dunn enthusiast into a die-hard, permanent fan? Was it when we were greeted on arrival at Borgo Egnazia (the new squillion- star resort in Puglia, the stiletto heel of Italy) by the Scott Dunn representative with a smile the size of the Coliseum?

Or was it when we visited the OurSpace kids club – managed by Scott Dunn – and I found myself offering my teenage daughters potions to turn them back into two year olds… and realising that this kiddies’ club really was good enough reason for me to get pregnant again? (I was looking at teeny, weeny, junior-sized bidets, a playground like a kingdom, ocean-sized paddling pool and legions of British carers who make Mary Poppins look boring…)

I don’t quite know. All I can say is that this resort gets the thumbs up for: sublime food, great service and excellent facilities. The villa was comfortable. The spa was beautiful. The venue divine – it’s built like a traditional Apullian village, complete with church and piazza: the backdrop for French Vogue fashion shoots and bellisimo Italians at play.

The downside? That we couldn’t stay longer.

My top tips for guests traveling to Borgo Egnazia:

1) Eat food that is beyond-the-beyond from the kitchens of Michelin-starred Executive Chef Mario Musoni.

From a mosaic of octopus carpaccio to cuttle fish risotto and pistachio icecream drizzled with the estate’s olive oil.

2) Admire centuries-old giant olive trees around the 250 acre private estate – their trunks wizened and gnarled. There are 64 million of them in Puglia and they produce forty per cent of the country’s olive oil.

With its romantic vibe and clever reworking of agricultural décor – with antique farm artifacts on the walls and vines of tomatoes hanging from the ceiling. Home-cooked food doesn’t come better than this.

4) Relax in Vair, the Borgo Egnazia spa, amid Roman baths and toga-clad therapists who waft around in a haze of local lavender, mint and lemon scents. Imagine a film set of church candles, calming creams and taupes and cool ceramic ‘towels’ hung on the walls as lampshades – then you’re halfway to seeing how beautiful it is. Then sip fresh almond milk as you relax afterward a treatment inspired by local traditions.

5) Have a fantastico cookery lesson and learn to make Pizza Margherita in an al fresco wood burning pizza oven – there are four staff to six pupils.

6) Swim in one of four wow! pools…

7) Take in a round of golf, or just or cruise around the 18-hole golf course in a buggy, if you don’t know how to play. Each hole has a view of the Adriatic.